Birth usually goes down differently than you had expected, and my birth of Robinson was no exception. I awoke to contractions Sunday morning and thought, “Huh, this feels like menstrual cramps… Oh my goodness, I’m probably going into labor!” So we timed them at about five minutes apart, called our doula, and got ready to go to Denver Health. At this point, I think both Paul and I were feeling giddy – “This is it!” – but trying to be reserved, knowing it could be a long couple days of labor since I am a first-time mom.

We discovered at the hospital that I was only a bit dilated, so we returned home to continue laboring…